Branding & SEO Explained…

Once upon a time, you could put up a website covered in ads, people would click on them, and you got paid fairly well.

Once upon a time, you could also put up a website designed to solely capture subscribers, to likely sell their emails later, even though you told them you wouldn’t.

Once upon a time, you could grab your free Blogger blogspot and write about anything you felt like, and get some rankings.

Once upon a time you could target unrelated keywords, just to steal that traffic.

Of course, you can still do this, and people still do, but Google is not giving you the time of day anymore. Some may fool the robot for a given time, but it will always catch up.

New SEO & Branding is not about playing tricks. It’s about being real.

SEO has changed with the online culture in the sense that people deliberately ignore ads, and don’t click. People don’t subscribe that easily to everything, and they ignore all types of spam.

People spend a lot of time on social media. They tend to share something they like, and they have either moved on, or don’t fall for the once upon a time culture or tricks anymore.

If you keep in mind that Google is in customer service, and their customers are searchers wanting to find that perfect match, or at least something close and interesting, you’ll start to understand that people’s behavior online shape the standards of Google. Google serves people, so they watch people.

People want something real…no tricks, no spam, and Google is just trying to bring them that real thing they want.

A robot has to figure out you are real.

The trick to being real for a non human, is that you fall into this new standard in the robot world. And you can’t fake it, because the real humans will determine your fate, ultimately.

You really have to be a brand with real products that people like and want, and you have to be able to communicate your brand and who you are to the search engine robot. You also have to reach and engage those real people who are searching and landing on your site, whom Google is watching.

Branding & SEO require a combination of research, technical application, captivating writing and authentic value.

Your brand products have to be good too.

Many think SEO is just about coding and technical applications. Yes, there are specific ways to communicate with the search engine robot through specific code language, but the most important part of new and real SEO is your actual on page content, and how that content is structured.

The robot crawls and reads this content just like the real people searchers, and the way you present that content to both parties is your key to success, and the most vital and essential part of your new and real SEO branding strategy.

Branding & Starting Right

Your content, and your content structure must be in place first before you can develop any SEO branding strategy further, or to have any chance at ranking. It’s also the tool you will use to market and promote your business.

There are of course many more steps and applications that must be employed for your SEO success once you’ve set up your proper on page content structure, but you can rest assured that you at least will start right with my services, and not waste time writing a bunch of irrelevant content that will get you nowhere.

All of this writing and set up structure takes time and effort. This is what Google wants to reward. And this is why businesses pay a lot for SEO services. It’s a lot of work, takes specific knowledge, and takes constant maintenance. But the great thing about the Internet and online business is that you can be small, and with a tiny SEO budget, and still provide the best in a search.

Branding Will Set You Up for the Future

With a branding plan, you can set yourself up to grow, and with more growth, you can afford more SEO to grow even more. You start right, and then with some success to be able to invest more into your business or blog, you can come to me for your next steps of more affordable DIY strategic SEO applications. I want to bring new and real SEO to the little guy. I can’t make it free, but I can make it much more affordable to help you.

Hitting the Branding Standard for Robot & Humans…

From reading above, you now understand that online culture and people’s online behavior set Google’s standards. So let’s touch on some things to help you fall into this standard or new protocol.

1)Be on WordPress.org

If you are branding yourself, you are shaping your business, and a business must have the function of a self-hosted WordPress.org website.

Google just likes WordPress.org sites, so for SEO it’s a must. Google also likes product rich and content rich sites, like an ecommerce site with a great blog.

Another type of site that is naturally authentic is a personal brand site with a person’s real name. You can’t get more real than that.

My personal advice for those of you on Blogger or WordPress.com is to not do a transfer, which is messy, and does nothing for you in SEO. Instead, keep your old site as a tool to point to a new site with an SEO branding plan.

2)Sell Something

A business brand typically has a product line, not just one product. If you are selling products and have an ecommerce site, the robot immediately understands that you are not just the casual blogger, the one solely grabbing email subscribers, the one just for ads, or the one trying to steal traffic for unrelated keywords.

Selling products dictate that you are likely using related keywords, because you really need to sell your items to people.

3)Create Signature Brand Products

Signature products help you connect the most with people, because they are products that only your brand creates, and people associate those signature items directly to you. The name of your product and brand sticks in their minds.

Since captivating people is so important now for SEO, your product creation and performance are everything. If you really have a good product, people will come to you, they will share you and like you, and all of this will register naturally with the robot.

The other part of having great products your market wants, is that they will help you with the next phase of SEO, which is backlinking.

Google wants to see sites pointing to you. I have a real person system set up for you as my clients to help you with this part of SEO Branding, but obtaining backlinks, because you and your products are truly liked, is the ideal way to go. And, you can have both my system and actual customers and clients pointing to you.

This is the part of my expertise and experience that is different from other SEO specialists. I create products every day for my businesses, and they touch a broad spectrum from fashion to books to content, patterns, services and decor. I constantly assess how they are performing, improve upon them, update them, change them, or even dump them.

I can help you with this very important and natural part of building your brand from my own personal experience and attention to detail. I am in the trenches, as they say, every day as an entrepreneur. Not out of touch from afar. I know how to stay agile and flexible, and think on my feet, and I can help you in these aspects as well.

4)A Brand Knows Itself & Its Market

The only way to create high performing signature products is to know who you are as a brand and to know your market backwards and forwards.

I have a specific exercise in my service to help you with this, and I’ll give a tidbit to get you started right now…

You need to be able to define your business, market and niche with a single word.  That single word will dictate all content that falls under it.

Just go ahead and try to do that right now.  What is your One Word?

It’s sounds easy, but it’s not, right? Your single word can be a keyword phrase too, but starting with One Word is best. That one search word to describe everything about your business model, products, customers, clients, market and niche is a must, and it’s what all my clients must figure out to move forward. It also really helps you understand who you are.

The reason for needing your One Word or Keyword Phrase for your entire brand description is that the search engine robot needs it. You are telling the robot who you are in the most simple terms…a single word. It’s just easier to understand, and then your keywords and content for your SEO content structure are going to relate and fall under this One Word.

Choosing your One Word will require some keyword research, but first, you have to really understand your brand, what your offer, know your readers, customers and clients, and in great detail.

Why?

Because your One Word, and all the relating keywords must fit all these parts of your brand and fit your customers, clients and readers. You can’t create products, or write content that makes your market want to buy or stay, unless you really understand them and your relationship together.

You also can’t create this signature item or high value, epic content without letting the robot know what it is, and telling it that it makes sense from a related keyword standpoint.

Want to learn more about your One Word? Read: Build a Blog Structure, Don’t Waste Time!

5)Stay in Constant Creation Mode

The more you can create and sell, the more likely you’ll hit something your market really likes. Online business is never static, and people are always wanting the new and fresh thing. You have to keep moving and being present, always.

6)Always Evaluate Your Brand

For a product to keep performing it has to improve. This means you will always check your presentation in all aspects of your business model, and seek betterment.

I have a great article covering how to stay active and agile in business here at Mom Blogger PLR called: Business Lessons Even Veterans Can Forget.

You’ll also want to read What’s Wrong with Your Startup Ideas to get to the heart of what you should be doing daily in business.

7)Brand with Content—

Since the online game is all about words, your content use and choice is everything.  That’s where it all starts.  You only have your words to communicate everything you need online, and so this content needs to be epic.  It needs to be valuable.  It needs to be entertaining.  It needs to be do or die top selling. It also needs to be relevant, which falls under your single word niche. Your blog content needs to be all this, plus something others want to buy, and it needs to beat the competition in some way.

To do this, your writing should target one group. When you know this, your content structure is already laid out for you. You will be able to write like you are talking to this one group.

Even better, if you can describe your niche as an individual person or profile, with whom you converse while writing, you’ll find you’re building very strong relationships, and being much more effective.  This means, you actually create an imaginary person to write to, like your sitting together for lunch, just talking.

When you know your own business and target person well like this, you can target the right keywords in your research to optimize your writing for your best SEO.

If only we could all be Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, where we get to learn our target markets to a tee, with a repeat day over and over…

Your Answers About Your Business for Branding

There is a custom “About Your Business Brand” exercise I have all my clients do to start their SEO service. It is a very extensive exercise, and we’ll cover some essentials here to walk away with.

Typically, I meet with my clients in person or on the phone to get a sense of their business goals and model, and then I create custom questions for them to answer about their businesses, all designed to target that authentic mix of presentation described previously for branding.

The more answers you know about your brand and your market, the better your branding application and SEO results. This is what sets you up to know your keywords, know what to write, know how to market it, and see your success.

Let’s cover the Top Answers You Need to Know About Your Business for Branding

You already answered your first with your One Word describing your brand. If you can provide thorough and descriptive answers for all questions below, you are in excellent shape for some top business performance.

If answers are unknown, this is your opportunity to focus, adjust, learn and apply. Having these answers will carry through your entire business model and marketing plan. You’ll be able to stay on target communicating to your audience in everything you do.

-Please describe what your customer or client wants most.

-Please describe what your customer or client needs most.

-Please describe your customer or client’s problems.

-Please describe your business or product solutions to your customer or client’s problems.

-Please describe your business or product solutions to your customer or client’s wants and needs.

-Please fill in with 2-3 words: At your highest business value, your business delivers…?

-Looking at your answers about your customer or client from above, what do you think your customer or client will want to read on your business blog?

-If you go through your answers about your customer or client’s wants, needs and problems from above, are there blog content topics that will address these?

-Putting aside your business and your customer or client’s wants and needs for the moment, what would they want to find on your site as sheer entertainment?

-If you were your customer or client, what do you need to feel as an emotion to convert and buy?

-What is the personal connection you have with your customers or clients, and how do you think they relate to you?

-What is the personality trait you think you have that communicates the best?

We are just beginning your road to Branding with an SEO Brand Plan here on my Branding page, but I hope you can see a shape and start of how I plan to help you and your business.

You can always CONTACT ME to discuss what you need, as well as your budgeting plan for any of my SEO SERVICES or WEB DESIGN & SEO PACKAGES. I can also be reached via Etsy Convo on my BLOGmoda My Blog Etsy Business Shop~Courtney